1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern data generating system for generating pattern data for an electron beam exposure system from layout pattern data in the process of fabricating semiconductor devices or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
The electron beam exposure has been widely used in the production of masks applied to the fabrication of semiconductor devices, particularly to the fabrication of large-scale integrated (LSI) circuits because of its good microprocessing performance and high controllability.
The electron beam exposure data used for the production of the masks are generated by converting layout pattern data into masking pattern data (referred to as "pattern data" from now on), followed by a plurality of complicated pattern data generation processes the input pattern data, such as fracture, overlap removal, tone reversal, and sorting.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional pattern data generating system. In FIG. 6, the reference numeral 101 designates pattern data information; 102 designates a region divider; 103 each designate a first pattern data information storage for storing split pattern data information produced by the region divider 102; 104 designates a group of pattern data generators; 105 each designate a second pattern data information storage for storing the pattern data information having undergone the pattern data generation; 106 designate a pattern data combiner; 107 designates pattern data information formed by combining the output of the second pattern data information storages 105; and 108 designates a parallel processing controller.
Next, the operation of the conventional pattern data generating system will be described.
The conventional pattern data generating system simply splits the pattern data information 101 into four parts by the region divider 102 as illustrated in FIG. 7. The region divider 102 allocates the split pattern data information to the common pattern libraries 109, and has the first pattern data information storages 103 store them. Afterward, the pattern data generators 104 generate the pattern data information by performing the pattern data generation processing of the stored data, and the second pattern data information storages 105 store the pattern data information generated by the pattern data generators 104. The pattern data combiner 106 combines the data stored in the second pattern data information storages 105, and outputs the pattern data information 107.
With such a configuration, the conventional pattern data generating system simply splits the pattern data information into four parts by the region divider 102 so that the split data is processed in parallel. Hence, the split data can include different amounts of pattern data, which presents a problem of delaying the total processing time.